Railway-signal



(No Model.)

H. H. LIEMKE.

RAILWAY SIGNAL.

No. 346,485. Patented Aug. 3, 1886.

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PATENT HERMAN H. LIEMKE, OF ST LOUIS, MISSOURI.

RAILWAY-SIGNAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 346,485, dated August3, 1886.

Application filed September 21, 1885. Serial No. 177,745. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERMAN H. LIEMKE, of the city of St. Louis, in theState of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inRailway-Signals, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective Viewof my improved device, showing part of the railwaytrack. Fig. 2 is avertical section of a track, showing part of the lever located at thetrack. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 33, Fig. 4. Fig. 4is a vertical section taken on line 4: 4, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a horizontalsection taken on line 5 6, Fig. 8. Fig. 6 is a similar View taken onsame line as Fig. 5. Fig. 7isa similar view taken on same lines as Figs.5 and 6. Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken on line 8 8, Fig. 5.

My invention relates to an apparatus for giving a signal at arailway'crossing; and it consists in features of novelty hereinafterfully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, A represents part of a track, and 13 part ofthe tics. One of the tics is supported at one end by a spiral spring, 0,and beneath it is one end of a bell crank lever, D, pivoted by abracket,E, to a support, E. The other end of the lever is connected by means ofa wire or cord, F, to a bolt, G, in a hollow projection, H, of a stand,I. Between the outer end of the projection and a nut or projection, J,on the bolt, is a spiral spring, K, surrounding the bolt, the tendencyof which is to force the bolt inward. The inner end of the bolt fits ina socket, L, in the lower end of a vertical rock-shaft, M, around whichfits a sleeve, N. To the upper end of the sleeve is secured a cylinderor barrel, 0, into which the upperend of the shaft extends, asshown inFig. 8. The other end of the shaft is made square and fits in a socket,I, of a short coupling, Q, around which loosely fits a cam, R, that ismade fast to the barrel or cylinder O. Secured to the upper end of thecoupling is a short shaft, S, that extends out to the upper end of thecylinder,and to which is secured a broad arm or flap, T, which,when

in its normal position, presents toward the track, as shown in Fig. 1.

Vithin the cylinder 0 on shaft M is a contact or projection, U, andsecured to the cylinder is a contact, V, with which connects a M wire,V, in circuit with a battery.

The operation is as follows: Supposing a train is coming in thedirection shown by arrow, Fig. 1. The weight of the train depresses thetie resting upon the spring and forces the upper end of the bell-cranklever toward the track. This retracts the bolt G, and then the currentof air caused by the motion of the train acting upon the flap T willturn the shafts S and M, made fast by coupling Q, as stated, and as thistakes place the contact U is brought around into contact with thecontact V closing the electric circuit to ground through shaft M andsupports. The current of electricity then passes through the wire V toany suitable alarm-as, for instance, that shown in my ap plication filedJune 8, 1885, No. 168,0l6. As the shafts are turned,the shaft S andcoupling Q are raised by a roller, It, on the coupling Q, bearingagainst the inclined face It" of the cam R. As soon as the train haspassed,the roller R descends, this cam returning the flap T to itsnormal position. As this action takes place, the shaft M is also turned,of course, and the contact U removed from the contact V from theposition shown in Fig. 6 to that shown in Fig. 5, and the electriccircuit thus broken. \Vhen the train has passed, the spring 0 alsoraises or lifts the free end of the tie B resting upon it, and thespring K causes the bolt G to enter the socket again in the shaft M, sothat the shaft is thus locked, so as not to allow the flap T to beoperated by the wind, it being necessary to first unlock the shaft byretracting the bolt G, and this is done, as before stated, by the weightof the train.

This apparatus is placed on both sides of a railway-crossing,but thealarm is only sounded when the train is going toward the crossing.

To avoid this alarm being sounded when the 9 train is going in the otherdirection, I place a stop, X, on the barrel 0, against which the contactprojection U strikes when the shaft M is turned in the oppositedirection to that above described. It is shown turned in this directionin Fig. 7 ,with the contact-projection U against the stop. As soon asthe train passes, the parts return to their normal position, as abovedescribed in speaking of their being operated in the other direction.

I claim as my invention-- 1. In an electric railway-signal, a flapadapted to be operated by the current formed by the motion of the trainto close an electric circuit, and means for returning said flap to itsnormal position, as set forth.

2. In an electric railway-signal, a flap adapted to be operated by thecurrent formed by the motion of thetrain to close the circuit, incombination with means for locking the flap and means for returning theflap to its normal position, substantially as set forth.

3. In an electric railwaysignal, a flap adapted to be operated by thecurrent formed by the motion of the train, shaft supporting said flap,an electric circuit, a contact on said shaft, and a contact againstwhich said contact on the shaft is turned when the flap is turned,substantially as shown and described.

4. The combination of a tie, B, spring beneath the tie-lever D, Wire F,bolt G, stand I H, socket in the stand to receive the bolt, shaft M,sleeve N, cylinder 0, contact V, secured to the cylinder, contactsecured to the shaft, coupling Q, shaft S, flap T, camR,'roller 0 R, andspring K.

HERMAN H. LIEMKE.

In presence of GEO. H. KNIGHT, SAML. KNIGHT.

